Hydrogen sulfide responsive nanoplatforms: Novel gas responsive drug delivery carriers for biomedical applications

Abstract

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) is a toxic, essential gas used in various biological and physical processes and has been the subject of many targeted studies on its role as a new gas transmitter. These studies have mainly focused on the production and pharmacological side effects caused by H₂S. Therefore, effective strategies to remove H₂S has become a key research topic. Furthermore, the development of novel nanoplatforms has provided new tools for the targeted removal of H₂S. This paper was performed to review the association between H₂S and disease, related H₂S inhibitory drugs, as well as H₂S responsive nanoplatforms (HRNs). This review first analyzed the role of H₂S in multiple tissues and conditions. Second, common drugs used to eliminate H₂S, as well as their potential for combination with anticancer agents, were summarized. Not only the existing studies on HRNs, but also the inhibition H₂S combined with different therapeutic methods were both sorted out in this review. Furthermore, this review provided in-depth analysis of the potential of HRNs about treatment or detection in detail. Finally, potential challenges of HRNs were proposed. This study demonstrates the excellent potential of HRNs for biomedical applications.